I.108 'When it Stopped Being a War': The Situated Testimony of Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Date of Incident
17 Oct 2023
Location
Al-Ahli Hospital, Gaza City
Forums
Exhibition, Media
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
On 17 October 2023, a massive explosion at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City killed hundreds of civilians sheltering in a courtyard. Together with Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a reconstructive surgeon working in the hospital when the blast occurred, we reconstructed the strike and its consequences.
I.105 German Colonial Genocide in Namibia: Shark Island
Date of Incident
1905 - 1908
Location
Lüderitz, ǃNamiǂNûs, ǁKharas region, Namibia
Forums
Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Media
In Partnership With
Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA), Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA)
During their genocidal campaign against the Ovaherero and Nama between 1904 and 1908, German colonial troops established five concentration camps across German Southwest Africa. Shark Island, also known as ‘Death Island’, was the most notorious. FA and Forensis worked with descendants of the camp’s victims and survivors to reconstruct this space of trauma, which today faces new threats of erasure.
I.103 The Grenfell Tower Fire: Situated Testimonies
Date of Incident
14 Jun 2017
Location
Grenfell Tower, North Kensington, London
Forums
Citizens' Tribunal, Media
Commissioned By
A coalition of lawyers representing bereaved families, survivors and affected local residents
The Grenfell Tower Fire was a generational tragedy for London and the UK, ultimately claiming 72 lives. Using a technique called 'situated testimony', we produced seven video interviews with bereaved family members, survivors, and nearby residents, aided by a 3D model of the tower and its surrounding environment. These interviews were screened for the first time as part of Grenfell Testimony Week.
I.102 German Colonial Genocide in Namibia: The Hornkranz Massacre
Date of Incident
12 April 1893
Location
Hornkranz, Khomas Region, Namibia
Forums
Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Media
In Partnership With
Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA), Forensis
On 12 April 1893, German troops attacked the Nama settlement of ||Nâ‡gâs, also known as Hornkranz, located in present-day Namibia. This was the little-known first chapter in a genocidal campaign against the Nama and Ovaherero that culminated between 1904 and 1908. We worked with descendants to reconstruct the lost settlement and support Nama claims for access to and preservation of the site.
I.98 The Murder of June Knightly
Date of Incident
19 Feb 2022
Location
Normandale Park, Portland, Oregon
Forums
Exhibition, Media
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
June 'T-Rex' Knightly was murdered while preparing to protect a racial justice protest, by a perpetrator inspired by toxic rhetoric from right-wing influencers and politicians. Four others were seriously wounded. False statements by Portland’s police after the attack implied the victims provoked the mass shooting. We worked with survivors to reconstruct the event, and challenge the police account.
I.95 The Pylos Shipwreck
Date of Incident
13 Jun 2023 - 14 Jun 2023
Location
Mediterranean Sea, Greece
Forums
Media, Web Platform
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
On 14 June 2023, a boat carrying hundreds of migrants sank inside the Greek search and rescue zone in the Mediterranean Sea—the deadliest migrant shipwreck in recent history. Our digital reconstruction of the boat and mapping of its trajectory reveal inconsistencies in the Hellenic Coast Guard’s (HCG) account and indicate that over 600 people drowned as the result of a failed towing by the HCG.
I.94 Executions and Mass Graves in Tantura, 23 May 1948
Date of Incident
22 May 1948
Location
Tantura, Palestine
Forums
Legal Process, Media
Commissioned By
Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights
Our investigation reveals new evidence about massacres conducted in the Palestinian village of Tantura by Israeli forces after its occupation on 22-23 May 1948 and subsequent depopulation. Launched on the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, it brings together testimonies and photographic evidence to locate several mass graves in which the victims were buried—including one previously unidentified.
I.88 Restituting Evidence: Genocide and Reparations in German Colonial Namibia
Date of Incident
1904 - 1908
Location
Otjozondjupa, Omaheke, and Khomas, Namibia
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
The Ovaherero/Ovambanderu Genocide Foundation (OGF), Forensis
From 1904–1908, Germany committed genocide against the Herero, Mbanderu and Nama peoples in their colony of ‘South-West Africa’ (present-day Namibia). FA/Forensis partnered with genocide activists from descendant communities to begin to produce a body of digital evidence that can be leveraged in support of demands for land restitution and reparations.
I.76 Dispossession and The Memory of the Earth: Land Dispossession in Nueva Colonia
Date of Incident
1960s to the present day
Location
Nueva Colonia, Urabá Antioqueño, Colombia
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Truth Commission, Web Platform
Commissioned By
The Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition of Colombia
This investigation shows how the dispossession of campesino farmers in the Urabá Antioqueño region of Nueva Colonia was achieved by a combination of physical violence, environmental transformations and legal means.
I.75 The Black Boxes of Disappearance: Enforced Disappearance in the Siege of the Palace of Justice
Date of Incident
6 Nov 1985 - 7 Nov 1985
Location
Bogotá, Colombia
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition, Media, Truth Commission, Web Platform
Commissioned By
The Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition of Colombia
Our investigation examines the actions of the Colombian security forces in the aftermath of the 1985 siege of the Palace of Justice that resulted in the enforced disappearance of cafeteria workers, students, visitors, guerrillas, and judges.
I.62 Pushbacks Across the Evros/Meriç River: Situated Testimony
Date of Incident
1 Oct 2016
Location
Evros/Meriç river, Greek-Turkish border
Forums
Legal Process, Human Rights Report, Media
In Partnership With
HumanRights360
At Europe’s southeastern river border, migrants report being beaten, detained, and illegally ‘pushed back’ to Turkey from Greece by unidentified masked men. Greek and EU authorities refuse to investigate. We used architectural and gaming software to gather evidence that proves the practice is widespread and systematic.
I.53 The Beating of Faisal al-Natsheh
Date of Incident
28 Feb 2014
Location
Occupied Hebron, Palestine
Forums
Exhibition, Media
In Partnership With
Breaking the Silence
In 2017, an Israeli soldier, now member of the NGO Breaking the Silence, confessed to have gravely beaten a Palestinian man. Following the Israeli state attempts to discount the account, we built a VR tool to collect and cross-reference testimony from the soldier and other witnesses.
I.47 The Killing of Harith Augustus
Date of Incident
14 Jul 2018
Location
South Shore, Chicago
Forums
Exhibition
In Partnership With
Invisible Institute
When police shot Harith Augustus to death not far from his South Shore barbershop, the Chicago police called it a legitimate 'split-second' decision. We unpacked that split second at six different time scales, from milliseconds to years. Our investigation uncovered multiple violations by Chicago police, including, not for the first time, withholding critical video evidence from the public.
I.37 Torture and Detention in Burundi
Date of Incident
1 Dec 2016
Location
Bujumbura, Burundi
Forums
Media
Commissioned By
BBC Africa Eye
A video posted to social media shows what looks like blood pouring from the drains of an unremarkable suburban house in Burundi’s capital. What was going on behind its walls? Employing our techniques of situated testimony, and collaborating with investigative reporters, we sought to find out.
I.30 The Grenfell Tower Fire
Date of Incident
14 Jun 2017
Location
London, UK
Forums
Media
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
The Grenfell Tower fire was unprecedented in UK history—not least because of the scale of publicly available information about the night.
We are building an interactive platform that will synthesise that information to create the most comprehensive account of what exactly happened that night.
I.18 Torture in Saydnaya Prison
Date of Incident
1 Jan 2011 - Ongoing
Location
Saydnaya, Syria
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition, Media, Web Platform
Commissioned By
Amnesty International
Since the start of the Syrian Civil War, thousands of Syrians have been detained, tortured and executed at the notorious Saydnaya Prison.
Using architectural and acoustic modelling, we worked with five survivors to rebuild the prison and explore their memories of life and death inside its walls.
I.9 Drone Strike in Mir Ali
Date of Incident
4 Oct 2010
Location
Mir Ali, Pakistan
Forums
United Nations, Exhibition
Commissioned By
UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights
A drone strike killed five people in their home. One woman and her infant son survived.
We reconstructed the home and investigated aspects of the strike and its aftermath, using digital models to unlock new memories in the witness.
SP.1 A City Within a Building: The Mariupol Drama Theatre
Supported Project
Date of Incident
24 Feb 2022 - 16 Mar 2022
Location
Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre, Mariupol, Ukraine
Forums
Media
An FA-supported project by
The Center for Spatial Technologies (CST), Forensis
Before it was destroyed by a Russian airstrike, the Mariupol Theater was not only a key refuge in the besieged city but a unique site of solidarity and resistance. Working with Forensis and FA, the Center for Spatial Technologies assembled a vast archive of evidence and interviewed survivors of the strike to tell the story of a self-organised commune: a city within a building.
Situated Testimony⤵
Situated Testimony is a technique of interviewing developed by Forensic Architecture over the course of half a dozen projects, throughout our history.
Situated testimony uses 3D models of the scenes and environments in which traumatic events occurred, to aid in the process of interviewing and gathering testimony from witnesses to those events. Memories of traumatic or violent episodes can often be elusive, or distorted, but we have found that the use of digital architectural models has a productive effect on a witness’s recollection.
Together with an architectural researcher, a witness is filmed reconstructing the scene of an event, exploring and accessing their memories of the episode in a controlled and secure manner.